No dream too big/No distance too long

Destination was Bhutan. It was long hours of days and nights but I keep working. I went to finish “Survivors” Bhutan’s last part. Every country has its own smell, so has its own depth to make any stranger curious. However I meet differences between every country of the world, except “Survivors”, that is indifferent. They are geometrically located in long distance but precisely living a same life as each other. Here a short sharing to discover “Survivors” in Bhutan.

The girl belongs to the area the kala Bazar slum where most of the cleaner’s families are living. These peoples are living with garages here & there, else they made the country Bhutan a beautiful & neat city for others.

Bhutan has long been a mysterious and elusive country for the world. It is small and under populated. The economy is based on agriculture. The majority of Bhutanese are not skilled labor workers. Last time when I was in Bhutan I feel the same force to take out the right moment to capture. But as always you could never be sure either to peak the moment or let it evaporate before you understand to grab it.

The old woman was sitting in a Buddhist monastery for her prayers. Many of old women in Bhutan passes their last days near these monastery.

In early morning, the streets of Thimphu are cleaned by male & female cleaners’ everyday. Most of them live in Kala Bazar slum. Inadequate living things & continual deprivation has pause their life, not even to express their sufferings.

“I was leaving Bhutan, head was full of their straggle stories & their clam sufferings which I hardly understand. Right moment, my project “Survivors” was up is emphas.is. When I was in dilemma either I could ever be able to give back these “Survivors” loves & fulfill my liabilities at that moment I saw a board written:

“No dream too big, No distance too long”
Salute you Akash bhai.
Would love to see if you have any image of that board. I ll make a small print of it , paste it on wall. Everyday I ll wake up and have inspiration like you have.

Did not say anything about your images, because they just dont need words.

"I see the beauty of people and the human soul in the pictures I take. And though the circumstances of some of the people I portray may be grim, back-breaking, depraved, the people themselves are always remarkable characters and souls"
For me Photography is my language, to access, to communicate, to identify and mostly to make it hear. Through photography I only jot down my heart’s language. The best part about being a photographer is that I’m able to articulate the experiences of the voiceless and to bring their identities to the forefront which gives meaning and purpose to my own life.
I have received more than 68 international awards and my work has been featured in over 70 major, international publications including: National Geographic, Vogue,Time, Sunday Times, Newsweek, Geo, Stern, Der Spiegel, The Fader, Brand Ein, The Guardian, Marie Claire, Colors, The Economist, The New Internationalist, Kontinente, Amnesty Journal, Courier International, PDN, Die Zeit, Days Japan, Hello, and Sunday Telegraph of London. In 2002 I became the first Bangladeshi to be selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in the Netherlands. In 2004 I received the Young Reporters Award from the Scope Photo Festival in Paris — once again, the first Bangladeshi to receive this honour. In 2005 I was awarded “Best of Show” at the Center for Fine Art Photography’s international competition in Colorado, USA. And in 2006 I was awarded World Press Photo award and released my premier book “First Light”. In 2007 I became the first Bangladeshi to be selected for the 30 Emerging Photographers (PDN 30), sponsored by Photo District News Magazine, USA. I won the 7th Vevey International Photography Grant from Switzerland in 2009 and in the same year, I took home the international ‘Travel photographer of the Year” title at the International Travel Photographer of the Year Competition (TPOY 2009) in the UK, the most prestigious award in travel photography. I was one of the speakers in the fifth Global Investigative Journalism Conference, held at Lillehammer, Norway in 2008 and as well I was the first Bangladeshi in Ted talk at TEDxOporto 2011, in Portugal. I was one of the speaker of “7th Forum of Emerging Leaders in Asian Journalism”, Yogyakarta / Indonesia”. In 2011 Nikon has selected me as one of the 8 influencers in Asia pacific (APAC region). Presentation of my 10 years project published as form of book ‘Survivors’ in 2012, which has reviewed by prestigious Geo magazine.